Asset Allocation under Solvency II : The impact of Solvency II on the asset allocation of Swedish life insurance companies

Abstract: This thesis investigates the impact of Solvency II on the asset side of Swedish mutual life insurers. With the help of a quantitative analysis and a qualitative examination of our results we find that there will be a significant change in demand for certain products. A substantial increase in demand for government bonds and interest rate swaps with long maturities should be expected. Furthermore, both corporate and covered bonds will be more attractive investments under the new regulatory framework. Another big impact is the lower risk-adjusted return for equity, which over time will lead to a reduction in Swedish life insurers’ relatively high exposure to equity and equity based products. Furthermore, we conclude that there are large gains to be made by incorporating an optimization with regard to the solvency capital requirements dictated by the legislative texts.